Wednesday, 14 May 2014

National mourning declared as death toll continues to rise in Turkish mine disaster

NEWS/TURKEY

The Turkish
government have declared three days of national mourning in response to the
mining disaster that has claimed the lives of at least 232 coal miners. Some
800 miners were down in the pits in Soma, Manisa, in the west of Turkey, when an
explosion occurred yesterday evening. The accident is one of the worst in
Turkish mining history.

Turkish Energy
Minister Taner Yıldız said a fire broke out following an explosion at a power
distribution unit at the Soma mine on 13 May. Rescue teams worked through the
night trying to reach the many men trapped underground. Most of the 232 victims
were killed through carbon monoxide poisoning and a further 80 injured. Some
300 miners remain unaccounted for.

Following the
tragic events, Yıldız announced earlier today there will be three days of
national mourning. Flags across Turkey
are being flown at half-mast while many concerts and the planned weekend celebrations
for the annual 19 May Youth and Sports Day have been cancelled. President
Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have postponed their official
overseas visit to China and Albania respectively,
so they can visit the Soma site instead.

In a press
conference earlier today, the Prime Minister expressed his deepest condolences
to the affected families and the nation at large, He praised the efforts of the
rescue teams and said the government was doing all it could to assist and will continue
to devote resources both to the rescue and to help those affected by the
tragedy. He also pledged to investigate the causes of the accident.

Turkish government accused of failing to act
on earlier warnings about the Soma mine

While Turkey
mourns and prayers are offered for the safe rescue of the remaining miners
trapped underground, serious questions are also being asked of the Turkish
government’s failure to act on previous warnings about the Soma mine.

In his
opinion piece today, Hurriyet Daily News editor Murat Yetkin says the Turkish Energy
visited the Soma mine nine months ago and praised ‘the quality of safety
measures and levels of technology produced in Turkey’. Yetkin also recalls an
interview given in 2012 by the Soma Mining owner Ali Gürkan who said the
company had managed to drop the cost of coal from $130 to $24 per ton by
manufacturing the electric transformers themselves instead of importing them.
The company also hires subcontractors with lower salaries instead of workers who
belong to the Maden-İş trade union.

However,
Turkish opposition MPs in Manisa have long argued the focus on increasing
profits at Soma has comprised the mine’s safety record. In a Parliamentary
sitting on 29 April, a local opposition MP for the MHP, Erkan Akçay, told his
colleagues:

“In 2013, 5,000 occupational accidents took
place in Soma district. Ninety percent of these accidents took place in mines.
Burn injuries share a considerable number of all mine injuries. However,
hospitals in Soma lack the necessary burn units, and time is wasted on the road
in transferring such injured workers to nearby hospitals”.

Rescue scenes from Soma following the mining explosion on 13 May

Last year,
another Manisa MP, CHP’s Özgür Özel submitted a motion to Parliament to
investigate work-related accidents at coal mines in Soma. The proposal was debated
a few weeks ago and while all the opposition parties backed the motion, it was
rejected as MPs from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) voted
against it.

In the
debate, Özel claimed Turkey
topped the occupational accidents list among European countries and ranked
third worldwide in terms of accidents.

Akçay added, “Workers die an average 8.5 times more in Turkey than in
the European Union. There were 880,000 occupational accidents between 2002 and
2013, and 13,442 were killed in these accidents”.

Turkey’s coal mining industry plagued by mining
accidents

Turkey has
experienced several serious mining accidents before. Its worst was in 1992 when
a gas explosion killed 263 miners near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

According to
the International Business Times, Turkey is the world’s 13th
largest coal producer and generates one quarter of its electricity through
coal-fired plants, with much of the coal mined in the country used for domestic
consumption. However, its safety record has been repeatedly questioned given
its ongoing problems in multiple areas, including: a lack of air ventilation in
mines, deficient early warning systems and a lack of mine auditing.

A report by
the country’s Mine Workers Union claimed that between 2000 and 2008 there were
25,655 accidents in the state-owned Turkish Coal Corporation (TTK) mines, with 26,324
injured and 63 miners killed. According to the Chamber of Mining Engineers of
Turkey, the fatalities grew significantly in one 12-month period, with 135 miners
losing their lives in accidents between 2008 and 2009. The causality list for
miners continues with a series of fatal accidents.

In December
2009, 19 miners were killed by a methane gas explosion in BursaProvince.
In February 2010, 13 miners died in an explosion in BalikesirProvince.
A few months later in May, another mine disaster claimed the lives of 30 people
in the Karadon coal mine owned by the TTK.

In November
2013, 300 miners barricaded themselves in a Zonguldak mine in protest at
working conditions.

About Me

Launched in April 2013, T-VINE is the UK's first & only English language consumer publication for British Turks and those interested in the world of Turks. Available quarterly in print and online daily, we cover news, culture, people, places, wellbeing, and lifestyle.